A migrant boat carrying approximately 200 people from Senegal has gone missing off the coast of the Canary Islands, prompting Spanish rescuers to launch a search operation.
The fishing boat departed from Kafountine, a coastal town in southern Senegal, and was en route to the Canary Islands, located about 1,700 kilometers (1,057 miles) away from Tenerife, according to aid group Walking Borders. The boat is reported to have many children on board.
In addition to the missing boat with 200 people, two other similar boats carrying dozens of individuals are also unaccounted for. The Spanish maritime rescue service has deployed a plane to aid in the search efforts.
Details about the other two missing boats remain scarce, but Helena Maleno of Walking Borders mentioned that one of the boats carries around 65 people while the other has up to 60 people on board. This brings the total number of missing individuals across the three boats to over 300.
The perilous journey from West Africa to the Canary Islands is known to be one of the most dangerous migration routes due to treacherous Atlantic currents. Migrants often travel in rudimentary fishing boats, which are vulnerable to the harsh conditions at sea.
Last year, at least 559 people lost their lives attempting to reach the Spanish islands, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The death toll for 2021 was even higher, with 1,126 fatalities recorded. However, the actual number of departures and shipwrecks is believed to be underreported.
The migrants embarking on this journey typically come from countries such as Morocco, Mali, Senegal, the Ivory Coast, and other sub-Saharan nations. Despite a decrease in unauthorized arrivals in the Canary Islands in 2022 compared to the previous year, the IOM notes that the flow of migrants along this dangerous route remains high when compared to previous years. Photo by Alex Gorzen, Wikimedia commons.